*...early to rise*

Ooh, we were up early this morning! The girlies are doing another week's crash course at the swimming pool in Stratford, starting at 8.30, so I was up at what felt like the crack of dawn (6.30!) I have had to get ear plugs for the kids - they did a crash course at the beginning of the summer hols, and we missed two days as they both came down with an ear infection on the first day. It may have been a coincidence, but given that they both have ear trouble anyway, I didn't think it would do any harm to give the plugs a go. Freya's stayed in all the way through her lesson this morning; I can't have put Anja's in properly, because I watched them bobbing around the pool from about five minutes in, and luckily was able to get her to fish them out before she came out of the pool!! They are made of silicone, so at least they float if they come out!! We'll try again with Anja's tomorrow. Freya was quite happy with hers.

Much excitement here, as Kirsty and Ellie are coming to stay for a few days; Kirsty and I are hoping to scrap, and the girls, as ever, will be so delighted to see each other that they'll keep themselves amused, hopefully in the garden if the weather stays fine. I know that Ellie would like to pay a visit to a petting zoo whilst they're here, and there are several in the vicinity, so we will try and do that, either tomorrow or Thursday. Also, the girls are having their hair cut this afternoon, which is always an adventure, possibly with the added bonus of new school shoes for Anja, depending on how we're doing for time.

*later that same day*

Had a lovely afternoon; managed to get the girls' hair cut with no problems at all - they both sit as still as statues in the hairdresser's chair, and are model clients, doing exactly as they're told! We had a little bit of time to kill before our appointment, so we had a meander around Malvern, and took a few photos, including this one of Elgar, Anja and Freya:



Anja embarrassingly gave him a good old prod, including a thorough check between his legs!!

Kirsty and Ellie are here - yay! Lots of fun and scrapping to be had this week - I hope to be able to share the fruits of my labours in a later post.